Which surface do you prefer?

I had a match yesterday against i guy i previously beat pretty easily so expected an easy win. Last time we played at my club where it is pretty slow and the ball bounces up pretty high. I play with alot of topspin so this suits me perfectly. Anyways played at his club this time on a skiddy astroturf surface and the ball hardly bounced it just skidded through and i were constantly hitting it late. I still won but faced 4 match points on the way to victory! Cant believe how much difference the court can make!!

I like to S&V and generally get to the net as often as possible. I don't like (playing or watching) long baseline rallies. I prefer VERY low bouncing fast skidding courts. So for me - grass or fast hard courts. Can't stand clay.

Pretty suprised that the majority so far likes faster courts! Guess it depends on your playing style. Am going to try to avoid playing at that club again to be honest cos the rallies were really short and we spent most the match picking balls up!

Don't like the green rubico that much, the white strips make the ball bounce funny, grit gets in shoes and on the bottoms of bags. Interlocking plastic plays like hard courts except very slippery when wet, nubs will eat your hands and knees up if you fall, and the static electricity is shocking. never played on grass.

Give me an indoor fast to medium hard court any day. No wind, no sun in yor eye on the serve, and a well struck ball is rewarded.

I'm okay with hard-tru, it's fun to get out an hit on it every once in a while and it is easier on the body.

Only played on red clay for about 30 minutes and the court wasn't well groomed - can't really judge.

Our college courts were on astro-turf and did part time duty in a facility designed to convert to indoor soccer or football practice. It was ok, but the bounce was inconsistent due to the padding.

Hate the hard courts at a lot of high schools in my area which seem to be some sort of rubberized, padded surface over concrete. Ball just dies on that surface.

Never played on grass.

Worse courts I played on - a tie between hard-tru in a bubble (it was over watered, muddy, and like playing in a sauna) or my high school courts which looked like they put tennis balls under the surface every 5 feet.

I've played on all of the above, and gotta say, I haven't met a surface I didn't like. I'd vote for grass, as my all time favorite, as I liked the serve and volley game it forced us into. And it was very easy on the joints. But I only played on true grass once. Maybe another day it wouldn't be as fun.

I do love having variety. With indoor and outdoor converging, this month I'm playing three different leagues on three different surfaces. Very cool.

Learnt the game properly on Grass so I still love it, off bouces and all. I enjoy a hard court but have only played on one so am not sure how much they vary. Clay wise I quite enjoyed Har-Tru and have also played on an Artificial Clay at a club in the local league that to all visual inspections looks like a brown astro turf but certainly plays very slowly.

Most club league tennis around here is played on what is locally called artificial grass but is basically astro. I've also spent a lot of time playing on indoor carpet.

Overall I struggle to pick a favourite but I probably play best on the carpet- the skidding bounce and the fast courts seem to suit my game.

I like to play on hard and clay. I played on carpet for a few minutes and didn't like. But if I played on it longer I may get use to it. Never played on grass so I don't know how that feels to play on.

Quite possibly in love with playing the red clay. So slow, so challenging and makes me think. Let alone gets me in great shape cause the points last longer. And forces me to control the bar and crank up the topspin for my somewhat flat game. Yea, I <3 the red stuff

I prefer hard courts because I am really fast on them and the ball bounces better for me. However, when you get a nice high-bouncing clay court, it's really nice too. When they get all soggy with dead spots on them or really slow because they've been too water logged, that can suck big time.

I love playing on fast hardcourts. Since I'm at something like 3000ft above sea level, we are high altitude and play on super fast skidding courts while indoors, and outdoors are more bouncy but still very fast. Clay seems like it would be a lot of fun, but we don't have very many real clay, or artificial courts here.

Fuji,
Do you guys use high-altitude balls or regular balls? We use high altitude here at over a mile high, but I have always wondered what kind of tennis balls are used at intermediate altitudes. Regular ones would be very quick, but high-altitude ones would be dead.

Fuji,
Do you guys use high-altitude balls or regular balls? We use high altitude here at over a mile high, but I have always wondered what kind of tennis balls are used at intermediate altitudes. Regular ones would be very quick, but high-altitude ones would be dead.

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We just use standard balls here. Nothing fancy like high altitude ones! :razz:

Needless to say our hard courts are some of the fastest that most people play on, if they are from down at sea level.

Big serve, forehand, slice backhand >>> put me on the hard courts any time, the faster the better. Some guys complain it is 'hard on their bodies' ... dunno. Points end quickly, a lot less running back and forth, changing direction. Completely different match play for me, as I get a lot of aces and unreturnable serves ... easy points. And the ball goes through the court, better against younger players that can run everything down.